Coyote killed after reports of aggressive behavior near The Field open space in Broomfield

A sign alerts residents the trail at The Field open space was closed in June because of coyote activity. An aggressive coyote was shot Tuesday in the area after coming too close to people and their leashed dogs. Most of the trails at The Field are open again, but some trails north of Midway Boulevard and east of Main Street are still closed in the area connecting Brunner Farmhouse to the pond near 10th Avenue.
(David R. Jennings)

A coyote was killed Tuesday night near Spader Way in Broomfield, after reports the animal displayed increasingly aggressive behavior to several residents who were walking their dogs in the area.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Broomfield Open Space officials said the coyote was killed Tuesday night after he got too close to several people near Spader Way and Midway Boulevard, which is near The Field open space. The coyote approached three people and their pets over the course of about a week.

No people or pets were injured in the three incidents, according to Broomfield Open Space.

The most recent incident happened at about 6 a.m. Tuesday near The Field, when a man was walking his two on-leash dogs. The male coyote charged and threatened the man and his pets, said Open Space and Trails director Kristan Pritz.

The coyote, thought to be the head of a coyote family in the area, had gotten within 10 feet of three people and displayed aggressive behavior such as growling and baring his teeth, she said.

The coyote was killed around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill.

Broomfield Open Space also noted two other incidents in the past week, when the same coyote coyote bared its teeth and growled within about 10 feet of a person was with a leashed dog. The coyote came in contact with humans early in the morning on July 5 and Thursday, Pritz said.

The coyote did not appear to confront residents who walk through the area without dogs, she said.

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After hearing about a third incident in which the coyote was displaying aggressive behavior, Open Space officials believed non-lethal deterrents, such as shooting rubber buckshot, would not be an effective way to keep the coyote from a danger to people walking in the area.

Pritz said killing the coyote was a last resort, and that Broomfield does not advocate killing wildlife unless it poses a serious threat to humans.

"The boldness of this coyote was concerning," Pritz said.

Broomfield has organized hazing efforts against coyotes in the past, but typically does not use rubber buckshot, which last week it announced it would use to try and discourage the coyote's behavior. Open Space officials decided to use the more aggressive form of hazing because the coyote was displaying unusually aggressive behavior. The buckshot was meant to scare coyotes, not injure or kill them, according to a news release sent out last week.

Pritz said aggressive coyote behavior was typically related to the breeding season, and coyotes can become more aggressive if they are protecting their pups. In the two recent cases, however, pups did not appear to be near the aggressive coyote, according to the news release.

Though the coyote has been killed, Open Space and Trails will continue to assess the area on a weekly basis, Pritz said.

Broomfield has not taken action to kill coyotes since 2011, when coyotes confronted or bit several young children in the Anthem neighborhood, she said.

Churchill said CPW was aware of the aggressive coyote and worked with Broomfield to keep track of, then kill, the coyote roaming the area near Spader Way.

Both Broomfield and CPW do not consider "lethal control" unless there is a serious possibility the coyote might be dangerous to people, she said.

"We need to coexist with coyotes, and we need to protect our pets from (coyotes) as predators, but we do not tolerate coyotes that are aggressive to humans," she said.

The last time CPW was involved in killing aggressive coyotes in Colorado was in May, when a woman at an off-leash dog park in the Cherry Creek area saw a coyote jump over a fence to grab one of her dogs. The woman chased after the coyote and was able to get her dog back, but she was bitten in the process of confronting the coyote, Churchill said.

This is not the first time officials have had to keep an eye on coyotes in the area near The Field open space.

On May 27, several trails at The Field were closed because of reports of coyotes coming close to on-leash dogs. The coyotes bared their teeth or displayed other aggressive behavior, because there were young pups nearby.

Some of the trails were slowly reopened when officials felt there was no longer a threat, but some trails north of Midway and east of Main Street are still closed in the area connecting Brunner Farmhouse to the pond near 10th Avenue, Pritz said.

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